Tagged: review

Emily S. Whitten: Sturm und Drang and a Bit of Darkness

Before I get down to today’s main topic, I want to say that I’m thinking of all who may be in difficulties or have suffered damage or loss due to Hurricane Sandy. I know a lot of comics pros (and fans!) live in NYC, which was pretty hard-hit, and I hope that most of you there and everywhere else made it out of the storm with minimal inconvenience.

As it turns out, at least one of our community did not fare so well. NYC-area comics artist J.K. Woodward (of Peter David’s Fallen Angel and more) and his wife Monica lost pretty much everything in the hurricane. Darrell Taylor and J.K. have a weekly podcast called J.K.’s Happy Hour, and this week it’s all about the craziness that J.K. and Monica went through. You should seriously listen to it, because it’s nuts. (I got to, “The couch started lifting up and floating, and we realized we were fucked,” and I just started laughing in horrified disbelief, even though it’s really not funny. It’s just that unbelievably crazy. And J.K. is funny, even in the midst of his loss.)

In the aftermath of that, J.K. and Monica are trying to find a new place to live and to replace basically their whole lives (right down to their clothes! Yikes!), and they could really use some help. To help finance a new home, car, and household items, J.K. is selling original art here. Or, if you’d like to help them out but would prefer to give directly, they also have a PayPal account at jkwoodward1205@gmail.com. Alternatively, if you want to donate clothes (J.K. is an XL in mens’ tees) or household items, through at least December they can be sent to: J.K. Woodward, c/o Reiss Studios, 4301 22nd Street, Studio 206, Long Island City, NY 11101.

You can also keep up with how they are doing and any updates as to what help they might need at J.K.’s blog. It must be terrible to lose everything like that; but hopefully some of us in the community can help them get back on their feet!

And, now, onward to something a little creepy – which is appropriate, as I was reading it right before Halloween. “It” being a review copy of the graphic adaptation of actor Thomas Jane’s movie Dark Country, which is now available in hardback. Both the movie and the graphic novel are based on a twisty little story written by Tab Murphy. The graphic novel is published by RAW Studios, founded by Thomas Jane (The Punisher, The Mist, Hung) and in partnership with Eisner Award nominated illustrator/production designer Tim Bradstreet (The Punisher, Hellblazer, Criminal Macabre) and a crew of talented creators.

I admit I haven’t seen the movie (although now that I’ve read the graphic novel, I may just do so). So this review is all about the new hardback graphic novel, which actually contains three distinct parts: a “silent” scratchboard-style graphic story by Swiss artist Thomas Ott, the original short story by Tab Murphy, and a collection of information and images related to the making of the film.

I haven’t encountered that many silent comics before; although memorably, Frank Tieri’s Deadpool #61 in the “Funeral for a Freak” storyline (appropriately entitled “‘Nuff Said”) is one, and is very well done. But the Dark Country silent comic is very impressive – both in the unique style of art, which is alternately beautiful and ominous or even gruesome; and in the way it’s able to tell the story without a spoken word from any character. Done all in black and white, Ott’s style is pretty interesting (samples can be seen here), being simultaneously very precise and detailed, and diffuse due to the scratchboard technique. The style also contributes to the noir-ish mood of the story and to the impending sense of dread as it unfolds. It’s definitely a striking artistic work and story.

Reading Tab Murphy’s original short story is a slightly different experience, but no less enjoyable if you like suspense and horror. If you haven’t encountered the story before, I won’t spoil it for you; but I will say, it’s an interesting little tale with a weird twist that’s hard to get out of your mind; one of the kind that you want to read through again after you’ve finished it, to see how your own perception of the plot has changed. It starts out with a newly married couple driving from Vegas to Albuquerque through the desert at night, and gets ominous when they encounter a body in the road. I’m not a horror fan in the sense of “blood, guts, and slasher films.” What I do like, though, are psychological thrillers and stories that are terrifying because of their puzzles, twists, or dark mysteries; and this is something along those lines, and certainly worth a read if you enjoy that genre.

The third part of the hardback package is almost fifty pages of materials from the making of the movie, like background, storyboards, production notes, and still photos. Despite not having seen the film, I found this part really interesting. It’s a glimpse into Thomas Jane and Co’s creative process during production, in a detail I haven’t encountered before (being as most of my “behind the scenes” reading about movie production has been done piecemeal and by happenstance while clicking around online). From discussions about the influence comic books had on Jane’s vision to the process of making the film in 3-D to concept art and storyboards, there’s a lot to digest here, and it gives a nice glimpse into the development of a film from concept to screen. Also there are some great bits of art by David Allcock scattered about.

Altogether, the compilation of these things is pretty cool; and if you’re a fan of the movie or of noir, horror, suspense, or some combination of those things, I’d think this would be a neat addition to your collection. Just don’t read it before bedtime, or you might find yourself unable to escape dreaming of the Dark Country.

Wishing you all a sleep free of nightmares, and until next time, Servo Lectio!

E.T.A. And to wrap up on Halloween-themed things, it so happens that I have just entered my Arkham City Harley Quinn costume in a little contest. Winners get cool comics prizes! So if anyone is so inclined, please feel free to vote for me once a day through November 14, and maybe I can win! (In which case, I would most certainly choose the Harley Quinn prize. It’s only fitting). Thanks!!

TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Michael Davis and The Adventures Of Black-Man!

WEDNESDAY MORNING: Why Mike Gold Didn’t Cold-Cock Walter Simonson

 

REVIEW: The Princess Bride – 25th Anniversary Edition

Hard to believe it’s been a quarter of a century since The Princess Bride was released to theaters. By then, I had adored William Goldman’s novel which was its basis and over time, as it hit cable then home video, it was watched repeatedly in my house. As a result, the kids grew up with it a part of their lives and they came to adore it with equal ardor. Sadly, when I tried to interest my eighth graders in seeing it recently, they stared blankly.

The conceit in the novel is that Goldman was giving us the “good parts” version of S. Morgenstern’s fantasy tale and that is adapted to the film as a grandfather (Peter Falk) reads the book to his sick grandson (Fred Savage). The rest of the fable involves the romance between beautiful Buttercup (Robin Wright) and dashing Westley (Cary Elwes) and the trials and tribulations that kept them apart – until the end when they finally kissed, one of the five greatest kisses ever recorded in history (or so we’re told). Between meeting and kissing, there are swordfights aplenty, death, resurrection, magic, cowardice, giants, tricksters, weird locales, and much more. Girls can love the romance, the boys can adore the action and both can laugh at the comical performances and clever dialogue.

Rob Reiner’s casting was pitch perfect as was his deft direction so all the elements came together to make an instant, enduring classic. With Wallace Shawn, Mandy Patinkin, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and Andre the Giant, what could possibly go wrong? Nothing as it turns out and it’s a joy to see it one more time, in the 125th anniversary Blu-ray release from Warner Home Video. Reiner could have gone overboard with the humor but he reaches the edge of slapstick and pulls back time after time.

Given how often this has been previously released on DVD and Blu-ray, it’s comforting to see most of the extra features carried over here including both audio commentaries (Reiner and Goldman), The Art of Fencing (7:00), Cary Elwes’ Video Diary (4:00), a look at the Dread Pirate Roberts (12:00), twin pieces on the fantasy roots (26:00), a Makeup (11:00) piece; and “Untold Tales” (9:00). New to this edition is a 25th Anniversary Chat with Cary Elwes, Robin Wright and Rob Reiner (15:00) and Entering the Zeitgeist (15:00), examining the film’s role in today’s pop culture.

If you own one of the earlier versions, you may not need this but if you don’t have this on the shelf, this is well worth you (and your children’s) attention.

Review: “Wreck-It Ralph” needs no hint book to unlock its fun

The Kid would never forgive if I used any other poster…

Wreck-It Ralph is very much of a new breed of Disney animation, showing both the freshness of new blood in the company, and a new attention to story with Pixar’s John Lasseter now holding court as the New Walt at the company.  Directed by Rich Moore (The Simpsons) and written by Moore, other Simpsons alum Jim Reardon, the film takes ideas from Toy Story, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Saturday Morning cult favorite Reboot.  The world inside videogames is alive; after hours they visit each other, attend parties and if their games were unplugged, roam the halls of Game Central Station begging for spare fruits and power-ups.

Wreck-it Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the antagonist of classic videogame Fix It Felix Jr., the titular hero voiced by Jack McBrayer.  After thirty years of being the bad guy, he examines his life and finds it lacking.  He attends the 30th anniversary party for the game at Felix’s penthouse apartment, and is made clear he is not welcome by the denizens of the apartment house whose job is his to demolish hundreds of times daily.  He attempts to show that he wants to be a good guy, and is told that he is a bad guy, will remain a bad guy, and that he must “go with the program”.  He embarks on a quest to “become a hero”, which he believes will bring him the love (or at least the penthouse apartment) of the people of his game.  He plans to “game jump” into another videogame, where he can take the role of good guy and achieve his dream.  His choice, the new sci-fi shoot-em-up Hero’s Duty, spearheaded by the gruff and buxom Sergeant Calhoun (Jane Lynch).  He makes it to the climax of the game, and earns a “hero” medal, but his ingrained predilection to destroy sends things into a shamble quickly, launching him screaming into the super-sweet cart-racer Sugar Rush, with a cy-bug, one of the baddies from Duty in tow.  He meets Vanellope Von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman), a bit of glitch code from the game who, like Ralph, wants to better herself and prove she can be a hero.  But according to the ruler of the land, King Kandy (Alan Tudyk), there may be a real danger if Vanellope lives out her dream.  And all along, the Cy-Bug from Hero’s Duty is multiplying into peppermint-striped hordes under the taffy swamps and rock-candy mountains.

The film takes a unique take from the first scene – Ralph is clearly portrayed as the bad guy, but not all that bad.  But in addition, like in many of the Farrelly Brothers comedies, he’s given a reasonable motivation for his unpleasantness.  According to the games opening cut scene, he was ejected from his home (a stump in the forest) in order to build the residential edifice at which he daily expresses his dissatisfaction.  The theme of the film is clearly about the upsides and downsides trying to be more than you were literally created to be – Ralph’s desire is honest, but like Vanellope’s, runs the risk of hurting many others.  The ecology of the game world has a bit of an edge as well – the idea of homeless videogame characters gets a laugh, but it’s an uncomfortable laugh for the parents.

You’ve already heard about the cameos.  Like the aforementioned Roger Rabbit, the film had gained great buzz by arranging cameos from scads of classic videogames and characters, including the combatants from Street Fighter, the cast of Pac-Man, and, The Kid’s personal favorite, Sonic The Hedgehog. Lesser-known games like Burger Time and Tapper make an appearance, the latter being the popular after-hours hang-out of the gaming world.  Like the appearance of actual toys in Toy Story, they give the world a sense of verisimilitude and realism, as well as provide for plugs of lots of classic games. Not to mention a few new ones.  As part of Sonic’s appearance, Ralph will be appearing in Sonic’s new game, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.  Even the legendary Konami Super-Code appears in the game.  No child of the 80s can sit through those scenes of Dig-Dug diving into the floor of the game station without being gobsmacked by nostalgia.

But in addition to the cameos the Disney creators do a great job of creating games that have the real look and feel of real games from various gaming eras.  Fix-It Felix Jr. is a game in the Donkey Kong / Crazy Climber mold, and and first look, it looks fun enough to want to play for real (and you can, at the film’s website, as well as Hero’s Duty and Sugar Rush). Hero’s Duty is a parody of modern first-person shooters like Halo, and Calhoun is clearly a kissing cousin of “Fem-Shep” from Mass Effect.  Sugar Rush also parodies the recent tactic of product placements in video games, by having actual product placements.  Felix and Calhoun almost meet their end in Nestle Quik-sand, are saved by Laffy Taffy, and while the boiling “diet cola” lake may be generic, the stalactites of Mentos above it are decidedly not.

The quality of the film can be best explained by an error of The Wife’s – when she saw the level of humor and clearly rich plot, she mistakenly assumed it was a Pixar release.  High praise indeed, and praise that Disney has worked hard to obtain.  The last few Disney releases have been quite a step up from a recent period of repetition, and that’s a good thing.

REVIEW: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

REVIEW: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Pride, Prejudice and Zombies was a quirky, fun mash-up of genres that sparked a brief fad of similar works. Of the rushed releases to fight for shelf space, about the only worth successor was Seth Grahame-Smith’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  This is early Abe; pre-White House, when the rail splitter used his axe in imaginative ways, keeping the frontier safe from the undead. Given the nation’s continuing fascination with Honest Abe, it was tailor made for Hollywood.

This summer, we got director Timur Bekmambetov’s interpretation and thanks to a script from Grahame-Smith, the finished product is pretty much what you expect: atmospheric popcorn fun. While attention has returned to the more somber Abe with Steve Spielberg’s forthcoming Lincoln, 20th Century Home Entertainment has released Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter on home video and it’s well worth a look.

Starring Benjamin Walker, the film’s protagonist looks perfectly capable of dealing death to vampires while cracking the occasional joke which was the man’s signature. The story sets out early in his life when he saw his mother poisoned by a vampire, named Jack Barts (Marton Csokas), and years later, after being trained by Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper), exacts his grisly revenge, setting Lincoln on his path to destiny. Along the way, he befriends shopkeeper Joshua Speed (Jimmi Simpson), working and living at the general store. And he meets his future wife, Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), when she was young, pretty and still sane. We rush through the 1800s at a pretty fast clip so suddenly he’s president and the Civil War is threatening.

His mission to eradicate vampires leads him to learn they all report to Southern plantation owner Adam (Rufus Sewell) and his sister, Vadoma (Erin Wasson). Adams offers Confederate president Jefferson Davis (John Rothman) his vampire’s allegiance in the coming war. Don’t come looking for a history lesson in the plot although it does nicely weave the vampires’ plight and desire for dominance into the slavery issue (slaves make for plentiful and tasty food it seems). Nor should you look for the vamps to follow the standard rules so the bitten become vampires instantly and Abe’s axe is dipped in silver, better for werewolves than vampires.

The film veers from playing it with tongue firmly in cheek to deadly serious and the shifting can be jarring and dissatisfying. Bekmambetov, best known for the stylish Wanted, does a better job with the look of the film, using a dark color palette and keeping things feeling eerie. His action is frenetic but unoriginal, which is a shame. His cast does what they can but the tone affects their performances, wasting some fine potential.

Thankfully, the transfer to disc is pretty flawless and sounds good. The Combo Pack comes with the standard Blu-ray, DVD, and a code for both an iTunes digital copy and UltraViolet copy. The extras are a standard assortment, starting with Audio Commentary with Writer Seth Grahame-Smith which is interesting although his wit needed more air time. The Great Calamity (7:43), is an interesting CGI-animated short about vampires in America as told by Edgar Allen Poe to Lincoln, featuring the story of Elizabeth Bathory. The Making of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (75:21) is a five-part making-of documentary which tells you everything you need to know and then some. Lincoln Park’s “Powerless” Music Video (2:54) and theatrical trailer round out the assorted extras.

REVIEW: The French Connection

The escapades of New York Police detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle was well known even in the early 1960s and attempts to tell his story fell through until he was captured in print in the best-selling Robin Cook book The French Connection. William Friedkin helmed a film adaptation that made Doyle the poster boy for brutal but effective policemen for the next decade and catapulted character actor Gene Hackman into leading man status. The French Connection is very much a product of the 1970s as filmmakers were shaking off the restrictions of the now-dead studio system and a new wave of filmmakers were stretching their muscles, trying things that were new and fresh in terms of structure, production, and performance.

As part of 20th Century Home Entertainment’s Signature collection of classics now on Blu-ray, this film is a reminder of just how good a movie can be when all the right elements fall into place. When first released in Blu-ray back in 2009, Friedkin was intimately involved in the transfer and touted its improvements. Overlaying a saturated color print over a black and white print, Friedkin obtained a washed out color palette that he felt properly represented his vision and while purists howled. This new version is also approved by both Friedkin and Cinematographer Owen Roizman and looks good, certainly better than the original DVD. The transfer captures Manhattan at a time when it teetered on the brink of grime and bankruptcy.

Why did this win the Best Picture Award in 1971? It’s a story of good versus evil, drugs, an immortal car chase and terrific performances by an ensemble that featured Roy Scheider as Doyle’s partner Buddy “Cloudy” Russo, ex-con-turned-coffee shop owner named Sal Boca (Tony Lo Bianco), and French shipping executive Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey), who is trying to brink 120 lbs. of heroin into the city. The core story is the attempt by Doyle and Russo to find out when the shipment will arrive and arresting Charnier, but getting the facts and then executing the arrest propels the movie with the tempo of a finely tuned race car. Doyle is the center, profane, racists, crude and mesmerizing.

Speaking of races, the car chase is a class as Doyle commandeered a civilian’s Pontiac LeMans and chased an elevated train carrying an escaping hitman. Shot in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, it followed the BMT West End Line (now the D and B lines) until the subway collided with another. The front mounted cameras was undercranked so the speed appeared higher than it was but was an adrenaline-pumping sequence that elevated the film to the upper echelon of action pics at the time.

The disc re-presents the 2001 DVD’s extras including two audio commentary tracks – one from Friedkin, the second with Hackman and Scheider. The deleted scenes are accompanied with Friedkin’s interesting commentary and there are two documentaries: the BBC-produced The Poughkeepsie Shuffle and Untold Stories of The French Connection – 30th Anniversary Special. New to Blu-ray are seven new pieces: Anatomy of a Chase; Hackman on Doyle; Friedkin and Grosso Remember the Real French Connection; Scene of the Crime; Color Timing The French Connection; Cop Jazz: The Music of Don Ellis, and Rogue Cop: The Noir Connection, with historians James Ursini and Alain Silver. Like others in the Signature series, it comes with a glossy booklet with tons of information on the film.

REVIEW: The Brothers McMullen

Few made a bigger debut in the 1990s than Edward Burns who wrote and starred in The Brothers McMullen, which remains a quiet classic, often overlooked. These days, he is perhaps better known for his run on HBO’s Entourage, playing a version of himself. Thankfully, he continues to be a creative force, continuing to appear in and make movies. Still, his first offering is worth a look and thankfully, 20th Century Home Entertainment has given us a new Blu-ray edition as part of their Signature Collection.

What makes his first movie so powerful is its storyline and sparseness. Working on a shoestring budget, the film lacked a large production crew, shooting on location without permission while his mom made lunch for whoever was on set that day. It was guerilla shooting fueled by passion and it all shows on the screen. As a result, you’re forced to focus on the characters and story and there’s plenty here.

At the funeral for his father, Finbar “Barry” McMullen (Burns) says goodbye to his mother (Catharine Bolz), who will be returning to Ireland. We then jump ahead five years to see that Barry and his brothers are all dreaming and struggling. Jack (Jack Mulcahy) and his wife Molly (Connie Britton), still living in the McMullen family home, are straining as she wants to start a family and he’s resistant to the notion (igniting an affair). Then there’s serial dater and would-be screenwriter

In an ironic touch Patrick (Mike McGlone), the most devoutly Catholic of the Irish brothers, is dating Susan (Shari Albert), a nice Jewish girl whose father wants to shower them with an apartment and give the man a job. Marrying her has Patrick scared. Barry is a serial dater and would-be screenwriter who is ending his latest relationship with Ann (Elizabeth McKay), leaving him homeless.

We pick up on the occasion of Molly’s thirtieth birthday party and then we follow the next eight months of their lives and it’s never short of fascinating as events force the three brothers to once more be living under the same roof, with all its ghosts and memories. In time we come to understand that the boys are mostly worried about recreating their parents’ loveless marriage, raising a cold family largely in caused by their father’s alcoholism. The cycle may be broken when Barry begins seeing Audrey (Maxine Bahns).

Overall, the performances are spot on and it’s refreshing to see Britton early in her career at a time she is shining on ABC’s Nashville.

This is well worth a second or third look and thankfully the Blu-ray transfer of the 16mm film is pristine. The disc comes with a commentary from Burns, honestly revealing the trick she used to get this film made while still working for Entertainment Tonight. Culled from previous versions is Fox Movie Channel Presents Fox Legacy with Tom Rothman (14:26) which reminds us this was the first release from the Fox Searchlight label. The Signature case includes a glossy insert with production notes about the film.

Dragnet, Terror Tales, a Spider Announcement and Review, Doc Savage, and So Much More! from Radio Archives!

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  • November 2, 2012

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November 2, 2012
 
 
 

Dragnet is considered a classic program for a multitude of reasons. The memorable opening theme, classic lines, and dedication to detail and more have imprinted this program on American society permanently. One of the best aspects of Dragnet and the very reason for the show’s existence was its creator and star Jack Webb. Webb’s portrayal of Joe Friday takes center stage in Dragnet, Volume 6 from Radio Archives.
 
Jack Webb made sure that Joe Friday was a policeman that other policemen could relate to and that listeners enjoyed. Played almost to understated perfection, Friday walks listeners through every episode, unfurling the case as he sees it in stark detail. While most of his fictional peers were cracking wise on other shows, Webb took a different approach with Friday. Stripped down, essential dialogue in a tone that oftentimes bubbled with an emotional undercurrent was Friday’s trademark.
 
Webb also imparted a particular humanity to Joe Friday that many other fictional policemen and detective of the era lacked. He remained a bachelor for the entire run of the show, living with his mother. He showed sympathy for those who deserved it and sarcasm for those who earned it. He playfully picked on his partners. He never rushed to violence first. In essence, Joe Friday was as real a cop as a fictional one could be, thanks to Jack Webb. Dragnet, Volume 6 features Jack Webb as Joe Friday at his best and Radio Archives has restored each episode to Sparkling Audio quality!

 
Ten hours, twenty shows of Dragnet. $29.98 Audio CDs / $14.99 Download.
 
 
Because of your great response, Digital Downloads of any of our Old Time Radio sets will be priced at 50% off the regular Audio CD price through the end of the year. You get the same sparkling high quality audio content as our compact disc collections at a reduced price, Delivery immediately upon payment, and the ability to play them on your phone, computer, or portable device! Purchase the audio collections you love and enjoy them in a whole new way!
 

 

“…One of the great citadels of American medicine…”
 
Radio listeners in the 1940s and 50s were introduced to Blair Memorial Hospital this way and welcomed into the life of one of the most enduring physicians of American Fiction. The Story of Dr. Kildare, Volume 3 gives modern listeners the chance to enjoy the drama, humor, and fantastic storytelling that have made Kildare and company a part of American culture.
 
Based on the highly successful Dr. Kildare series of B-Movies by MGM, The Story of Dr. Kildare retained not only the charm and pathos of the films, but also brought two stars from the movies that’d left their marks on the series. Lew Ayers, who portrayed the idealistic young Dr. Kildare in the first MGM films, reprised the part for radio. As important as Ayers, acting legend John Barrymore lent his talents once more to the role of Dr. Leonard Gillespie, Kildare’s curmudgeonly mentor and often partner in the cases Kildare worked in each episode.
 
Great talent was not The Story of Dr. Kildare’s only strong point. Production on this syndicated, relatively low budgeted program was top notch, featuring William P. Rousseau as director, an original score by Walter Schumann, and scripts from such greats as Jean Holloway and Les Crutchfield. Each episode was a self contained superbly presented drama. The Story of Dr. Kildare Volume 3 from Radio Archives is six hours of classic drama at its finest restored to the highest quality possible for pure listening enjoyment. Make The Story of Dr. Kildare, Volume 3 part of your essential listening
 
Six hours, twelve shows of great fun. $17.98 Audio CDs / $8.99 Download.

 

 
Read by Joey D’Auria and Michael C. Gwynne
 

Among fans of classic pulp fiction, aficionados of supernatural stories consider Popular Publications’ Terror Tales the magazine for people who found the Lovecraftian stories in Weird Tales too tame and Universal’s classic monsters too Hollywood!
 
Between 1934 and 1941, Terror Tales and its legion of unholy authors spewed forth an unremitting litany of horror, terror, torment and torture—all directed at ordinary American couples faced with supernatural menaces torn from their deepest, darkest nightmares. Think Scream during the Great Depression.
 
We have selected seven of the most compelling stories torn from the pages of Terror Tales for this sampler from Hell.
 
In Paul Ernst’s horrific “The Mummy Maker,” an innocent woman faces the fearsome fate of being mummified alive! Norvell Page’s disquieting “Accursed Thirst” takes us into the dark mind of a vampire—or is it a werewolf? The specter of a dead Egyptian deity loosed upon the modern world comes alive in E. Hoffmann Price’s eerie “The Cat Goddess.” Asian elementals harass the curious in Arthur J. Burks’ creepy “Six Doors to Death.” G. T. Fleming-Robert’s gruesome “Moulder of Monsters” serves up twisted human flesh. Maitland Scott’s unsettling “Shadows of Desire” leads us inexorably to a traumatic climax. Finally, terror and horror compete for supremacy in Frederick C. Davis deeply disturbing “Dig Deep the Graves!”
 
Terror Tales is narrated with appropriate doom-laden solemnity by Joey D’Auria and Michael C. Gwynne. Shivers await! Horrors abound! Try not to listen after midnight. We are serious about this. Not for children! Seven terrifying hours. $27.98 Audio CDs / $13.99 Download.

By Dale Vied

 
Recently I’ve become a huge fan of the ‘weird menace’ pulps. They tend to be very satisfying and melodramatic short horror stories that are much different in their approach to the genre than those that constitute the bulk of ‘modern’ horror stories. When I saw that Radio Archives had released an audio book for Terror Tales my mind raced with possibilities and cautious anticipation.
 
The resurrection of the weird menace tale is an important development in the history of horror literature. Long shunned as the ‘black sheep’ of the pulp world and unjustly maligned for many years, pulp readers are now discovering that the weird menace stories are in fact much better written than was indicated by their reputation. The fact that many of the authors like Hugh B. Cave and Wyatt Blassingame also went on to write for the ‘slicks’ is a testament to their quality.
 
While many modern horror authors seem to be more concerned with excessive character development, convoluted plots and showing off their literary dexterity rather than spinning a ripping yarn that maintains a sense of impending horror, the weird menace pulps show just what modern horror storytelling has lost. I find them to be incredibly charming in their unabashed desire to ‘creep out’ readers with melodramatic and sometimes lurid depictions of horror, usually featuring bizarre villains such as mad scientists, crazed cultists, and disfigured fiends menacing lovely ‘damsels in distress’.
 
Terror seems to be lurking around every corner and the hero isn’t always the usual detective that populates other pulp stories, but is often the ‘everyman’ simply battling horrible odds to try to save the woman he loves. These stories often get down to business right away and don’t tend to waste the reader’s time, moving along with masterful techniques that build suspense (which at times can be positively nail biting). When the peril kicks in the depictions of horror and torment are often shocking even by today’s standards.
 
It’s actually a refreshing revelation to know that such strong horror stories were being published during a time of great despair in American history because horror stories are cathartic and they no doubt helped many readers feel better about their own lives after reading about the awful perils and torments of hapless characters in weird menace stories. Suddenly things weren’t so bad after all.
 
It only makes sense that these long overlooked stories are making a comeback during modern troubled times as our great nation is divided more so than it’s been in quite some time and many are in the grip of anxiety.
 
Speaking of anxiety it was in this unnerving state that I began to listen to the first Terror Tales audiobook. I was eager to know if it would be the artistic success I was hoping for or a crushing disappointment.
 
I was pleasantly surprised when the first story reader Joey D’Auria began telling the tale of ‘The Mummy Maker’. Mr. D’Auria’s talents are perfect for this type of material as he has a great reading voice for mystery / horror tales and a nice technique for continually expressing urgency. At no point did he seem to lose his passion for the material. He masterfully ratchets up the tension during times of horrific peril and is on par with the best audio horror / OTR voice actors I’ve ever heard.
 
This suspenseful story about a woman who visits a dark museum after hours is finely rendered here and is a great introduction to the world of ‘weird menace’. Mr. D’Auria’s story readings are always welcome as far as I’m concerned and I thoroughly enjoyed all of his story readings in this audiobook.
 
Michael C. Gwynne, the other reader, has a very deep voice and is an excellent reader as well, especially for stories that require a serious and solemn delivery. He has an incredibly rich voice that is very enjoyable to hear and when he’s fully engaged and delivering creepy imperative action Mr. Gwynne is among the best I’ve ever heard. He did a fine job of delivering the proper atmosphere and creepy tone to his stories.
 
It is with great relief that I can say that the first Terror Tales audiobook is indeed an artistic success. It could have been a disaster if it had been approached from a ‘campy’ perspective with readers hamming it up for over-the-top comedic effect. Thankfully this was not the case.
 
This is a fine introduction for those not familiar with the deeply satisfying pleasures of experiencing great ‘weird menace’ stories and those who are already fans of the material will most likely love this presentation. It’s like experiencing new ‘midnight horror movies’ in your mind.
 

 

The best of timeless Pulp now available as cutting edge eBooks! Will Murray’s Pulp Classics brings the greatest heroes, awesome action, and two fisted thrills to your eReader! Presenting Pulp Icons such as the Spider and Operator #5 as well as wonderfully obscure characters like the Octopus and more, Will Murray’s Pulp Classics brings you the best of yesterday’s Pulp today!
 

The most fearful terror ever to be visited upon a city had struck with malicious force and suddenness at Cincinnati. So fiendish were the machinations of the misshapen and malignant little monsters who were making the city their unholy playground, Richard Wentworth, famed as the Spider, knew that only one man could be directing them in their devil’s sport. Only Tang-akhmut, the sinister Egyptian, the man whose vices were ageless and uncounted, could be engineering those wholesale murders, torturings and mass kidnapings. Grimly, Richard Wentworth sets his face toward Cincinnati — and a finish fight with the Man From the East! Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
 

The city of New York was held in thrall by that sinister menace from the East, the ageless man out of Egypt, Tang-akhmut, the mass murderer. Bands of ruthless killers roamed the streets, following his dread commands to loot and pillage. Richard Wentworth, the avenging Spider, the one man who could stop the holocaust, was speeding toward his beloved city, in an attempt to save it — yet he knew that there was a fabulous price on his head — dead or alive! Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine. As a special bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of eBooks.

 

Kasma, baleful divinity from the wastes of Asia, had laid his blighting curse upon America. All who opposed him came to ghastly ends: amnesia, madness, and screaming, agonized death — for the cult of Kasma enforced its dread dictates with a new, deadly weapon, unseen, unheard, which razed the mightiest buildings, which lay wide regions barren — without man or bird or beast! One man, Jimmy Christopher — known in the Secret Service as Operator 5 — understood the grim purpose behind that crafty plan. And Operator 5, hampered by a superior’s shortsightedness, beset on every side by peril and treachery, takes the greatest gamble in his career to keep an army of religion-crazed zealots from delivering America into the bondage of an Asiatic Moloch! Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine. As a special bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of eBooks.

 
Terror Tales Arthur J. Burks Book 1

In 1934 a new type of magazine was born. Known by various names — the shudder pulps, mystery-terror magazines, horror-terror magazines — weird menace is the sub-genre term that has survived today. Terror Tales magazine was one of the most popular. It came from Popular Publications, whose publisher Harry Steeger was inspired by the Grand Guignol theater of Paris. This breed of pulp story survived less than ten years, but in that time, they became infamous, even to this day. This ebook contains a collection of stories from the pages of Terror Tales magazine, all written by Arthur J. Burks, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.

 

In 1934 a new type of magazine was born. Known by various names — the shudder pulps, mystery-terror magazines, horror-terror magazines — weird menace is the sub-genre term that has survived today. Terror Tales magazine was one of the most popular. It came from Popular Publications, whose publisher Harry Steeger was inspired by the Grand Guignol theater of Paris. This breed of pulp story survived less than ten years, but in that time, they became infamous, even to this day. This ebook contains a collection of stories from the pages of Terror Tales magazine, all written by Wyatt Blassingame, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
 

Captain Future… the Ace of Space! Born and raised on the moon, Curt Newton survived the murder of his scientist parents to become the protector of the galaxy known as Captain Future. With his Futuremen, Grag the giant robot, Otho, the shape-shifting android and Simon Wright, the Living Brain, he patrols the solar system in the fastest space ship ever constructed, the Comet, pursuing human monsters and alien threats to Earth and her neighbor planets.
 
This is one of the infamous “final seven” Captain Future tales. After a run of twenty pulp issues, the quarterly magazine closed. But that was not the end of Captain Future. He returned in a series of short stories published in Startling Stories magazine, beginning with the January 1950 issue. Edmond Hamilton, creator of Captain Future and author of the majority of the full-length novels, returned to pen seven more Captain Future stories. His style had matured, as had his original audience, and these final seven Captain Future stories are considered to be some of his best. Captain Future left the pages of Startling Stories with the May 1951 issue, but editors left open the possibility that Captain Future might return some day. True fans are still waiting. Until then, Captain Future returns in these vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
 

All eBooks produced by Radio Archives are available in ePub, Mobi, and PDF formats for the ultimate in compatibility. When you upgrade to a new eReader, you can transfer your eBook to your new device without the need to purchase anything new.
 
Find these legendary Pulp tales and more in Will Murray’s Pulp Classics, now available in the Kindle store and the Barnes and Noble Nook store! and RadioArchives.com!

 

FREE Spider eBook!

Receive an exciting original Spider adventure for FREE! Part of the Will Murray Pulp Classics line, The Spider #11, Prince of the Red Looters first saw print in 1934 and features his momentous battle with The Fly and his armies of crazed criminal killers.
 
For those who have been unsure about digging into the wonderful world of pulps, this is a perfect opportunity to give one of these fantastic yarns a real test run. With a full introduction to the Spider written by famed pulp historian and author Will Murray, The Spider #11 was written by one of pulp’s most respected authors, Norvell W. Page. Writing as Grant Stockbridge, Page’s stories included some of the most bizarre and fun takes on heroes and crime fighting in the history of escapist fiction.
 
Even today Page’s scenarios and his edge-of-the-seat writing style are still thrilling both new and old fans everywhere. For those who have never read one of these rollercoaster adventures, you are in for a thrill. If you already know how much fun a classic pulp is, make sure you get a copy of this classic.
 

See what the Total Pulp Experience is for yourself. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
 
Send an eMail to eBooks@RadioArchives.com and start reading your FREE copy of  the Spider #11 within seconds! Experience The Best Pulps the Past has to offer in the most modern way possible!

 

 
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Girasol Collectables Inc, known for top quality reprints and replicas of Classic Pulp Tales, and Radio Archives,LLC, a leader in Pulp Audiobooks, eBooks, Old Time Radio, and Pulp Reprints, revealed today results of recent negotiations.

Girasol and Radio Archives have a long standing history of doing business together.  Due to this already strong relationship, Radio Archives has purchased Girasol’s The Spider double novel product line. This line, containing double novels numbered 1 through 25, has thrilled enthusiasts with its high quality and consistent publication and introduced new fans to the exploits of the Master of Men, The Spider. Girasol will continue publishing their extremely popular The Spider Pulp Replicas product line which is the Finest reprint of the Spider ever done.

Neil and Leigh Mechem, owners of Girasol Collectables, Inc. stated, “We’re especially pleased to have Radio Archives taking over the handling of sales of our Spider Pulp Doubles. The scope of the pulp related material they have to offer, combined with their excellent customer service, make them the ideal one-stop shopping venue for pulp fans. We’re proud of the 25 issues we produced, and seeing them managed diligently helps enormously while we concentrate on the prep work required for our Pulp Replica line.”

Recognizing this and the overall quality of Girasol’s work, Radio Archives is proud to add The Spider Double Novel line to its already impressive lineup of not only Pulp, but specifically Spider related material.   “This product line,” said Tom Brown, Owner of Radio Archives, “dovetails so well into our Spider Audiobooks and eBook product lines.”  The purchase includes existing inventory, intellectual property, and substantial amounts of artwork and other material.

Radio Archives and Girasol have also formed a strategic relationship for future projects that will insure the cooperation of the two companies continues on and that top quality Pulp products will be available to fans and enthusiasts for years.

Wholesale dealer inquiries are now accepted at Radio Archives for this product line.  Email Radio Archives at Service@RadioArchives.com or call 1-800-886-0551.

Visit Girasol Collectables at www.girasolcollectables.com
Visit Radio Archives at www.RadioArchives.com
 

 
One of the top crime-fighters from the golden age of pulp fiction, The Spider returns in two thrill-packed adventures written by Norvell Page under the pseudonym of Grant Stockbridge. First, in “The Spider and the Jewels Of Hell” (1940), Tough, dauntless miners, accustomed to hardship and danger, paled in helpless terror as their homes were destroyed, their loved ones slaughtered! No one was safe, above ground or below, when The Killer walked among them. Only the Spider dared challenge the strangle-hold of fear that held an entire town in its deadly grip! Then, in “Recruit For the Spider Legion” (1943), Staunch supporter of justice and champion of the law Stanley Kirkpatrick, finds himself about to gain unexpected insights into the workings of the system when he himself is faced with the electric chair! Can the very man who has forever branded the Spider a criminal for his vigilante efforts join with his old enemy to battle the forces of Kali? These two exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading and feature both of the original full color covers as well as interior illustrations that accompany each story. Available now for $14.95!
 
To Celebrate Radio Archives purchase of The Spider Reprints, the brand new issue #25 is specially priced for the next two weeks for only $9.95!

 

By David White

 

The Master of Men barrels his way into a pulse pounding, action packed adventure in this tale as he travels to the skiing paradise of Colorado to spin his web. The story is packed with action from start to finish. Ram Singh, Nita, and Jackson are all thrown into the fray, as corruption and greed lead to yet another diabolical plot against mankind.
 
The desire of a few faltering millionaires to re-open a few mines for the purpose of clearing out whatever ore may be left turns into murder and torture. It all seems to be a plot to shut down the mining of ore for future armaments. But, is that really the reason or is there some other twisted purpose for the horrific onslaught? A strange black box that causes metal to grow red hot and even bullets to explode without being triggered, wreaks havoc on its victims and local law enforcement, all a part of this insidious plan.
 
The story takes as many twists and turns as the toughest slopes of the Rockies. I will admit I was baffled as to the identity of the fiend right up till the end. The cruel and cunning villain discovers that there is a wealth of a new material for making airplane metal in one of the mines. This would of course make him quite rich. The problem is his greed! He wants the money all to himself and decides to eliminate any possible competition. He of course never counted on the dark visage of The Spider to thwart his plans.
 
The Spider is pushed to the limit as everyone including the law is against him. He has only a short time to close the case before he is either killed or imprisoned. Stories like this are when The Spider is presented best. He sweeps into action and begins to systematically thwart the plans of the killer. Nita, ever trying to be at his side, is captured by the evil villain adding to the suspense. The odds against The Spider mount and the clock is ticking away as the situation grows grim for the Master of Men. The Spider stares death in the face several times, but through cunning and wit, he manages to stay alive and on the trail.
 
The story and action never slow and the mystery keeps a stranglehold on you from the moment you start reading. This story ranks right up at the top of The Spider stories I have read. I found myself never wanting to put it down!
 
You too can experience the thrills and chills of this story as well as another full length Spider novel in The Spider #25 for only $14.95 from Radio Archives!

 

The shattering sequel to Fortress of Solitude.
 
The Doc Savage exploit that went untold for 74 years—Death’s Dark Domain!
 
In the aftermath of the evil John Sunlight’s pillaging of the secret Fortress of Solitude, a dreadful super-weapon has fallen the hands of a Balkan dictator intent upon seizing control of the vampire-haunted zone of desolation known as Ultra-Stygia. War is imminent. Monsters are loose in the disputed region. A strange darkness falls over the sinister landscape. Only Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze, understands the terrible threat to humanity. And only he can prevent the terror from spreading…
 
There are unknown Things prowling the darkest patch of land on the planet. Haunted by creatures that might have emerged from the Hell’s lowest regions, ancient Ultra-Stygia has turned into a cauldron of conflict between rival countries. Monster bats careen through the night sky. Invisible Cyclopes patrol the scorched battleground. And a power beyond understanding robs men of their vision.
 
Can the 20th century’s premier scientist and superman untangle this Gordian knot of carnage before neighboring nations are drawn into an apocalyptic new world war? Or will the Man of Bronze succumb to an unstoppable power he himself has unleashed upon mankind?
 
From the frozen Arctic to the war-torn Balkans, Doc Savage and his fighting five follow a winding trail of terror to a blood-freezing climax.

 
Death’s Dark Domain features a fantastic cover painted by Joe DeVito! Buy it today for only $24.95 from Radio Archives.

 

Back in print after 20 years! The rare Lester Dent-Will Murray collaboration resurrecting the original pulp superman…

 
Also available is the first Altus Press edition of Will Murray’s 1993 Doc Savage adventure, The Forgotten Realm. Deep in the heart of the African Congo lies a secret unsuspected for thousands of years. Doc Savage and his men embark on a quest to discover the secret of the strange individual known only as X Man, X for unknown. Before they come to the end of the trail, they find themselves fighting for their lives like gladiators of old!
 
No one knows who—or what—the strange being who calls himself “X Man” truly is. He was found wandering the ruins of a crumbling Roman fort, dressed in a toga, speaking classical Latin—and clutching a handful of unearthly black seeds.
 
Declared insane, the X Man patiently tends his weird plants until the day, impelled by a nameless terror, he flees Wyndmoor Asylum to unleash a cyclone of violence that is destined to suck the mighty Man of Bronze into the blackest, most unbelievable mystery of his entire career. For far from Scotland lies a domain of death unknown to the world and called by the ancient Latin name of Novum Eboracum—New York!
 
From the wild Scottish moors to the unexplored heart of darkest Africa, Doc Savage and his indomitable men embarked upon a desperate quest for the Forgotten Realm….
 

The Forgotten Realm features a spectacular cover painted by Joe DeVito! Buy it today for only $24.95 from Radio Archives.

 

Eerie Halloween Special
The Master of Darkness investigates baffling mysteries in two classic pulp novels by Walter B. Gibson writing as “Maxwell Grant.” First, a deadly outbreak of “Gypsy Vengeance” pittin gclan against clan can only be ended by The Shadow’s justice! Then, the Knight of Darkness must pierce the mystery behind a silver veil to end the murderous crimewave commanded by “The Veiled Prophet.” BONUS: legendary sleuth Nick Carter investigates murder on the set of a Shadow movie in a classic story from the Golden Age of Comics! This instant collector’s item showcases the original pulp covers by George Rozen and Graves Gladney plus the classic interior illustrations by Tom Lovell and Edd Cartier, with historical commentary by Anthony Tollin and Will Murray. Buy it today for $14.95.

 

Expanded Manuscript Edition Plus Supersnipe!
The pulp era’s greatest superhero returns in two incredible tales by Lester Dent writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” First, Doc, Monk and Ham journey to the Indo-China jungles to solve the strange enigma of “The Flaming Falcons” in a novel expanded from Lester Dent’s original 1939 manuscript. Then, what is the bizarre connection between “The Two-Wise Owl” and the murder of Ham Brooks’ brother? BONUS: Supersnipe, “the boy with the most comic books in America,” gets imto mischief on the set of a Shadow movie in a classic story from the Golden Age of Comics! This double-novel collector’s edition features both original color pulp covers by Emery Clarke, Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and historical commentary by Will Murray, writer of ten Doc Savage novels. Buy it today for $14.95.

 

Expanded Manuscript Edition Plus Supersnipe!
The pulp era’s greatest superhero returns in two incredible tales by Lester Dent writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” First, Doc, Monk and Ham journey to the Indo-China jungles to solve the strange enigma of “The Flaming Falcons” in a novel expanded from Lester Dent’s original 1939 manuscript. Then, what is the bizarre connection between “The Two-Wise Owl” and the murder of Ham Brooks’ brother? BONUS: Supersnipe, “the boy with the most comic books in America,” gets imto mischief on the set of a Shadow movie in a classic story from the Golden Age of Comics! This double-novel collector’s edition features both original color pulp covers by Emery Clarke, Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and historical commentary by Will Murray, writer of ten Doc Savage novels. Buy it today for $14.95.

 

Comments From Our Customers!
 
Regina Zeyzus writes:
Thank you very much for this free volume of The Spider. I am looking forward to a new experience!
 
Loyce Deen writes:
i have been a radio archive customer for about two years. i just wanted to say that this is the best site for buying pulps and radio shows and the customer service is the best of any internet site and where you find that if you have a problem you can call on phone and talk to a person that answers your question while on the phone. Super Super customer service and products.  thank you for this wonderful site from a customer for life.
 
Jery M. Bruno writes:
I just wanted to say that I have a friend who is a History Teacher. He, with my suggestion has been using shows like “Fibber McGee and Molly” along with “The Great Gildersleeve” and “Henry Aldrich” to teach WWII era history. We discovered that by hearing these shows, the class gets the sense of what it was like to live during those days. Hearing about War Bonds and Rationing along with the atmosphere of the time, they get a much greater insight on the time itself. You are giving generation after generation the opportunity to FEEL that time in History through these shows.
 
Chad Wrataric writes:
I love The Spider pulps you guys have published as books and am excited to read another. Thank you very much for offering a free edition.
 
Peter Soldan writes:
Fantastic job well done on the audiobooks. Having the download price be 1/2 that of the CDs makes the books affordable. I hope you find it worth your while to produce more books. I am especially enjoying Moon Pool and would like to listen to more books similar to it. Good work!

 

If you’d like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email to Service@RadioArchives.com. We’d love to hear from you!

 
The products you’ve read about in this newsletter are just a small fraction of what you’ll find waiting for you at RadioArchives.com. Whether it’s the sparkling audio fidelity of our classic radio collections, the excitement of our new line of audiobooks, or the timeless novels of the pulp heroes, you’ll find hundreds of intriguing items at RadioArchives.com.
 
If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter, or if this newsletter has been sent to you in error, please reply to this e-mail with the subject line UNSUBSCRIBE and your name will immediately be removed from our mailing list.
 

REVIEW: Cardboard

Cardboard
By Doug TenNapel
283 pages, Scholastic Graphix, $12.99

I find Doug TenNapel a maddeningly inconsistent storyteller. He goes from the wonderful Ghostopolis to the disappointing Bad Island while delivering inventive graphics aided with strong color. Now we have Cardboard, which starts off with such promise and right around the halfway mark things spiral entirely out of control and become way too over the top.

Mike is an independent carpenter who recently lost his wife and the sour economy means he’s inching towards bankruptcy. We open on his son Cam’s birthday as Mike, with a mere seventy-eight cents to his name, desperately seeks work to afford a present. Despondently he heads home until he encounters Gideon, a roadside huckster who sells him a cardboard box for exactly seventy-eight cents.  When Mike complains it’s empty, Gideon screams, “Empty? It’s full! Full of ideas…projects…adventure!” But of course, it comes with rules which will later drive the story.

The box is at first skeptically received until the two take tools to it and suddenly it is transformed into a boxer that magically comes to life. Bill the boxer comes complete with a rudimentary vocabulary and intelligence making his a step above an adorable puppy. He follows orders and is out mowing the grass before you know it, earning Cam the enmity of his spoiled goth-inspired friend Marcus, accompanied by his sidekick Pink Eye. A squirt of water soaks the cardboard man and brings him near death until Mike uses the scraps to build a device that emits fresh cardboard, which is then shaped to replacement parts and Bill lives.

But Marcus wants the device and his own cardboard man and from there we begin the slippery slope down to lunacy. Marcus of course gets the device and uses it without understanding the rules and just like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, one becomes many and all set to work. Given their intelligence, they decide to rule the world and the neighborhood is taken over by the growing numbers of cardboard simulacrums of people.

Of course, a garden hose would have nipped this in the bud at the outset but Mike and Cam appear to have lost their logical thought processes by this point. And this sort of lack in internal logic, which doomed the previous outing, also comes to haunt this work which showed such lovely potential at the outset.

Mike is despondent over his dead wife, feeling like a failure in raising Cam and is totally oblivious to the mutual attraction he has with his next door neighbor, the single Tina.  We’re told how broke he is early on – not enough money to buy food let alone a present, but that thread is instantly dropped until the happy ending. The growing intelligence and development of Bill the Boxer as a character started off well but got shoved to side for the kinetic action that overwhelms the narrative. Mike, Cam and Bill are the most rounded characters while Marcus, hid Dad, and Tina are as two-dimensional as the cardboard that starts this off.

Just how did the cardboard become infused with magic? Gideon gives an incomplete answer first saying it is a result of alien or alien magicians that also can understand quantum particle physics. We never quite know or how Gideon obtained this wondrous object.  In the grand scheme of things, its largely inconsequential to the overblown action.

TenNapel’s artwork is quite good and he tells his stories well, aided with superb color from Der-Shing Helmer. He acknowledges the editorial contributions that he felt made the book work but frankly, it needed serious editorial guidance to retain the emotional core which was sacrificed for too much cardboard plotting.

Review: “Costume Not Included” by Matthew Hughes

It’s not easy being a superhero in the best of circumstances, so pity the poor man whose powers derive from a demon — and whose mother is dating one of the nation’s leading evangelical preachers. And when that young unfortunate’s name is Chesney Arnstruther, well…that’s someone whom you would not want to switch places with.

Chesney is the superhero of Costume Not Included, second novel in a trilogy called “To Hell and Back” — though it means that more puckishly than most fantasy books would — and I’ll direct you to my review of the first novel, The Damned Busters, for the precise details of how and why Chesney made that deal with the devil, how he did it without forfeiting his immortal soul, and why an actuary wanted to be a musclebound superhero in the first place.

There are two kinds of trilogy-middles: the ones that lose the energy of the first volume and mark time until the finale, and the ones that are happy to have gotten the scene-setting out of the way and leap into creating ever more complications to keep things interesting. Costume, luckily, is of the second type: the first book took a little while to get going, but this one hits its wry tone right up front and charges forward at exactly the right pace.

Really, how could you put down a novel that begins like this:

“I thought you weren’t speaking to me,” Chesney Arnstruther said into the phone.

“I’m not speaking to you,” said his mother. “I’m telling you something for your own good, is what I’m doing.”

I’ve spent the last several years haranguing anyone who wanders into Antick Musings about how essentially funny and entertaining a writer Matthew Hughes is — see my other reviews of Hughes books, all of which you should buy, read, and love, in approximately that order: The Other, Hespira, Template, The Spiral Labyrinth, and Majestrum — so I’ll leave that part as read: Hughes came into the SFF field writing Vance-inspired far-future books, but his influences were always deeper than Vance (not that being able to write as smoothly and sardonically as the great Jack Vance isn’t a monumental achievement to begin with), and he’s since shown that his essential qualities shine through in a variety of subgenres.

So, anyway: Chesney is a superhero, and he’s been doing well at it. Too well, actually: he’s wiped out pretty much all of the Golden Age-style street crime (guys in suits and fedoras robbing banks, muggings, and so forth) in his city, and his deal only extends so far. He can’t directly stop the sources of crime — which, in best superhero fashion, lies with a shadowy cabal that secretly runs that city — and his put-everything-into-the-right-boxes mind is not happy leaving a job undone. (His new girlfriend, Melda, is also pushing him in slightly different directions; she’s like to see him have a higher media profile and perhaps make some money from being the Actionary.)

Adding to the complications is that his mother’s new boyfriend — that noted thriller writer turned TV evangelist, Reverend Hardacre — has his own new, and very odd, theory about the secret cosmology of the world, and it’s becoming more and more clear that Hardacre is right. And the Devil is not entirely happy with the deal with Chesney — that lack of a soul coming his way vexes him, and the Devil’s whole raison d’etre is to trick and twist and sneak — and the Devil has deal with other folks who may help him cause trouble for Chesney.

So complications — very idiosyncratic, unique complications, of the kind only Hughes could create — proliferate, until Cheney finds himself chased closely by a smart police detective, meeting a Jesus Christ, (not the Jesus — not the current one, at least — but a prior, historical version) and having himself proclaimed as a new prophet by Hardacre. But Chesney still has Melda, and his demon Xaphan, on his side, plus his own inextinguishable drive for truth and justice. And there’s still one book to come in this trilogy.

Not to sound like a broken record, but Matt Hughes is a great, wonderfully entertaining writer — his dialogue pops, his people are quirky and real, and his situations could be written by no one else in the world. If you don’t like his work, there’s got to be something wrong with you.

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Review: “After the Golden Age” by Carrie Vaughn

Carrie Vaughn is best-known for her “Kitty Norville” urban fantasy series — about a radio talk-show host turned reluctant werewolf — but she’s also written other things. Just last year, for instance, she came out with [[[After the Golden Age]]], a superhero novel about Celia West, the completely unpowered accountant daughter of the two most popular and powerful heroes of Commerce City.

So, the first question is: what comes after the Golden Age? Whether you’re Hesiod or Jack Kirby, the obvious answer is “The Silver Age.” And After the Golden Age is a quite Silver Age-y book, full of gangsters (organized into teams, with spiffy nicknames, and I would not be at all surprised if many of their gangs had dress codes) who politely kidnap Celia repeatedly in the vain hope of using her as a shield against her parents. (This is seen to never work, but — in best Silver Age fashion — the gangsters keep doing it, because they need to follow the essential Weisinger plots or else they are nothing.)

This is lucky for Celia; if this were an Iron Age story, she’d be in pieces in the fridge before page ten, and we wouldn’t have much of a novel. But she does live in a more genteel age, with defined standards of behavior for both heroes and villains, and so her kidnappings tend to just disrupt her schedule and horribly frustrate her.

(Vaughn lampshades the inevitable question: Celia doesn’t leave Commerce City because she doesn’t want to — sure, she has no relationship with her parents, and has a career that usually takes young public accountants through extensive travel around the country for the first few years of their careers, but, by gum! she’s going to stay right there in Commerce City because the plot requires it no villains will drive her out!)

The rest of the book is agreeably muddle-headedly Silver-Agean like that: Celia starts dating a young police detective, Mark Paulson, whose father is the city’s Mayor, with the usual obvious parallels between their parents. Celia’s ur-kidnapping was by the Olympiad’s (her parents’ superteam) greatest foe, the Destructor, as a young teen, and she ran away to join the Destructor’s gang not long afterward, in a fit of teenage pique at sixteen. (And this is endlessly brought back up throughout the novel, as though this was a superhero world in which no one had ever made a heel or face turn even once — let alone dozens of times a year, as in the modern era.) Celia is given primary responsibility to build a forensic accounting case against the Destructor (even though he’s old, possibly senile, and has been locked up in not-Arkham for a while now) as part of a major criminal case against him, for no obvious or specific crimes, and even though her multiple conflicts of interest would make any opposing counsel salivate at the thought. The whole plot, in fact, is entirely second-hand: it’s all standard superhero furniture that seems to be in this novel because it belongs somewhere in a superhero story, and not because Vaughn had specific reasons for wanting any of it.

Vaughn keeps it all going with her narrative voice, but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if you spend any time thinking about it. But, remember: in the Silver Age, stories aren’t supposed to make sense. Celia has more than the recommended level of angst, and is batted around by events — she’s supposedly driven and responsible, but her accountancy work isn’t dramatic, so Vaughn just mentions it now and then, and it really doesn’t add up to much.

Celia bounces off the supers of her hometown — her parents, Captain Olympus and Spark; Arthur Mentis, the telepath who was a late addition to their team; Annalise, aka Typhoon, a water-powered hero her age — as she slowly learns about the requisite sinister plot. And, of course, she gets kidnapped in the furtherance of that plot, but it all turns out all right in the end — city saved, true love found, the whole nine yards.

After the Golden Age is a pleasant if slightly musty-feeling superhero story; it’s based on several-decade-old tropes and doesn’t bear a whole lot of resemblance to what superhero stories look like these days. (Of course, superhero stories have looked horrible for much of the last two decades, so not looking like that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.) Vaughn makes it entirely an enjoyable read, but this isn’t a book to think too deeply about motivation or realism as you’re running through the pages.

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